before you say it: i checked all the connections that looked off and nothing helped. if someone could please tell me what pins to check in what order to see if the signal is going from the ic2 to the clock?

The schematics are on the Design Page. The relevant parts are shown below. The signal that controls that segment is VFD_D. You will need to check the joints at the VFD Chip, JP1, JP2 and the tube itself.

i have located the pin on all parts (on my third pic over starting over the little hole on the bottom 2 pins to the left). there is voltage on jp1 jp2 and the cathode itself (the little wire going in has power). all the other segments behave as anticipated when grounded (not lighting up) except this one...simply nothing changes. could it be the cathode?